Human trafficking is the modern equivalent of slavery. It’s an incredibly lucrative crime, bringing quick, high profits with few start-up costs. Because of this, it has expanded into a huge network, second to only the drug trade.
The Basics
- People are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation.
- While some victims are taken by physical force, others are lured into the trade.
- Often, a victim will agree to be smuggled illegally from dangerous or impoverished conditions, tricked by false promises of foreign employment or marriage. This is known as migrant smuggling. Once these victims arrive in a new country, they are threatened with death and told their families will be killed, or that they must pay a debt to their smugglers through labor or prostitution.
- Human trafficking is difficult to control and spot, since to the observer it may appear like normal prostitution.
- Victims are forced into labor, domestic servitude, and—by far the most profitable—sexual slavery. The average domestic servant is a girl of around 12-14 years of age.
- Women and children face greater risk of trafficking in war zones. Sexual attacks on communities are often used as strategies for demoralizing the enemy. Children are trafficked into war zones as soldiers or messengers. They may also be forced to offer sex in return for food and shelter.
Quick Statistics
- The U.N crime fighting office announced that 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time. Another estimate has the number at 27 million.
- 80% of these victims are exploited as sexual slaves, and 21% of them are children.
- 17% are trafficked to perform forced labor. Children make up 26% of forced labor.
- This equals about 5.5 million child victims at any given time.
- Two-thirds of human trafficking victims are women.
- Only one out of every 100 victims is ever rescued.
- 161 countries are affected by human trafficking, across every continent.
- Human trafficking networks generate about $32 billion in revenue a year.
Effects
- Trafficking is a violation of fundamental human rights, facilitating devastating emotional, psychological, and physical abuse of victims.
- Victims forced to conduct labor often work dangerous jobs, or for strenuous periods of time, which can lead to serious physical injury.
- Domestic servitude leaves women and girls at risk of sexual harassment and abuse. They are kept in extremely poor conditions and harsh working environments.
- Victims lack any social or legal protection.
- Trafficking victims are at greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDs. This becomes especially devastating, since they can’t access health services.
- Even when a victim is rescued, they may be shunned, stigmatized, or further abused by their own communities.
Combatting Human Trafficking
- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, was implemented by the U.N. on December 25, 2003. It is the only international legal instrument addressing human trafficking as a crime.
- The U.N. aims to increase assistance for victims, and is helping countries review and revise their laws concerning the protection of victims.
- Lots of countries have created penalties against human trafficking, but these laws are often vague in terms of what a country considers exploitation.
- Some remaining obstacles include a lack of monitoring, inadequate training, and a lack of coordination between anti-trafficking measures and the authorities.
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Sources: End Human Trafficking Now, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, HumanTrafficking.org, UNODC, Free the Slaves
